Typing using diacritical marks.
This page describes a basic lesson on teaching students to use accent marks, inverted punctuation, ñ, ü, while typing in Spanish.


Students frequently have difficulty using diacritical marks while typing on a Mac to create documents. By using the tool Wordle to create word clouds, students get an opportunity to practice typing in Spanish while creating.
!. Provide a practice typing space: ie Quietwrite
accents.jpg
sample typing document

http://www.quietwrite.com/writing/19458/allison-robertson

2. provide instructions on how to type the marks on your machines.For a mac: Hold down the option key and at the same time hold down the e. Let go. The next vowel you type will have an accent. inverted ? ¿ just add option to shift and ? For inverted ¡ it is just option and the one key for ñ option +n then type n
for ü option+u then type u3. Each student will practice each mark 5 times then submit a link to the page where they typed.







Here is a tiny sample of part of a word cloud:

minisample.jpg
portion of a word cloud



4. Create a word cloud poster by combining 3 word clouds.
There is a big difference between "hablo" and "habló" The accent mark matters. Create 3 separate word clouds (on for verbs that end in -AR, one for -ER and one for -IR). in the 3rd person singular of the preterite.5. Gather a list of 8 regular -AR verbs. Use a search to find "Regular Spanish Verbs"6. Conjugate each word to the 3rd person preterite. Be sure to type this correctly with the accent on the correct vowel. SAVE
7. Open Wordle. http://www.wordle.net/
Copy paste your 8 conjugated regular verbs into Wordle. Select a layout that is attractive with a WB (white background) . (TONER CONSERVATION).
8. Print. Either add color with pencils and markers, or print in color where you can.
9. Publish to Gallery
10. Repeat for -ER verbs. Repeat for -IR verbs. Notice a pattern?

Final Product: Create one poster with three separate word clouds.
11. Tape or copy/paste all three word clouds into a single poster. Add your name to the final paper version for classroom display.